The oil giant confirmed Wednesday that Dudley, who grew up in Mississippi, is now BP's point man for the Gulf Coast oil spill disaster.

He becomes the new face of the tragedy that started April 20 when the Deepwater Horizon well blew up and triggered the environmental catastrophe.

The 54-year-old Dudley, who prefers to be called Bob, started his oil business career with Amoco in 1979. When that company merged with BP, he caught the eye of former CEO John Browne, who made him a "turtle" – a name he gave his assistants, after the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Daily News reported last week.